Topic

Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. I apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days“.

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations“.

She was right about one thing–our generation didn’t have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then? After some reflection and soul-searching on “Our” day, here’s what I remembered we did have….

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Wales. In the kitchen, we blended & stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right. We didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a water fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Please pass on these truths so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can stick it to them.

Always knew I was greener than I thought !

absolutely right David

Not very PC but, as a smoker, I would like to add disposable lighters to this list - I use a Zippo

Oh and in my day we used a material shopping bag to get the groceries, as polluting plastic bags were not an option at the store

We never use the stores plastic bags. They are mafe from oil and it should be used for its proper purpose, making petrol and lubricants

I use the plastic bags as bin bags, so in a way I'm recycling because if it wasn't for the plastic bags then I would be buying plastic pedal bin bags.
And don't get me started on black bin bags .... what happened to the days when everyone used a dustbin. Out of 12 houses in our hamlet there is only me and one other who uses a proper dustbin. Leaving bin bags out for every animal/bird in the neighbourhood to rip open and litter the countryside (or town) is a filthy habit. IMO

what about the paper bags used in stores and supermarkets where have they gone. Sweets sold in jars not pre weighed packs.

Aha!
Struck a nerve, obviously.

I remember as a kid, searching out empty lemonade bottles to take back to the grocery shop for the 'money back', to exchange it for sweets out of big jars and handed to me in a paper bag. Not much plastic involved, although the sweet jar tops were Bakelite.
Happy days.

As an Art Deco fan - I love Bakelite

We used to have a dust bin that was emptied once a week, it was never full. 4 of us lived in the house. we had 4 meals a day. The reason why a small dustbin was enough?

MUCH LESS PACKAGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laz1957 wrote: wrote:

As an Art Deco fan - I love Bakelite

We went to the Bakelite museum when we were on holiday once. It was fairly interesting. I wouldn't recommend going too far out of your way for it though.